Page 60 of Kings Fear No One
I notice her retreating form as I’m blowing out cigarette smoke. I’ve stepped outside the restaurant to have a moment alone.
All the noises. The lights. The people.
The damn door wouldn’t stop flying open every other second.
Everybody else at the table sat laughing and chatting like nothing. They were into their stupid date like it was the time of their lives.
Mace and Cash showed their old ladies a good time. Even fucking Ozzie was all over his newest girl.
Teysha practically wilted at my side. Her hurt feelings were impossible to miss. I could feel it in the dejected little breaths she shuddered out. She wanted so badly for me to be like them. For me to grab her hand and kiss her brow and make her feel special.
I wanted that for her too.
I’m just not the person who’s able to give that to her.
Something she doesn’t seem to understand. I’ve already told her she should want better.
She deserves better.
“Teysha.”
Her name rumbles out of me as I flick my cigarette butt and start after her.
What the fuck does she think she’s doing?
We’re on the bad side of town and it’s dark out. She’s wandering around in tears with a huge ass target on her back. I catch up to her halfway across the backlot, cutting off her next step.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“It’s none of your business.”
It damn sure is my business.
“You really think it’s smart to wander off? Does that sound like it’s about to end well?”
She jerks her arm back so I can’t grab her. “Better than being rejected over and over again.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? I can’t—” I stop myself, nostrils flaring, then realize where we are. An argument in the middle of a shoddy backlot after dark isn’t the kind of attention we want to be drawing to ourselves. I release a ragged breath and try again. “Back to the apartment.”
My reflexes outpace hers. I grab her by the hand before she can rebuff me. As soon as we’re inside my pickup truck, I shoot off a text to Mace, letting him know we’re bailing.
The entire drive home is full of tense silence.
Teysha’s crammed herself into the farthest little corner of the passenger seat, like she can’t stand the idea that she’s sitting next to me.
That’s alright. She can throw as many tantrums as she wants so long as they’re at home.
I’m doing what’s best for her even if she doesn’t like it.
The sooner we’re able to get this marriage dissolved, the sooner we’ll be able to move on. She’ll be able to return to her real home and carve out a new life for herself. A woman like her will be scooped up fast.
Teysha walks ahead of me up to the apartment. I step over the threshold to her dark hair whipping out of view as she rounds the corner into the hall. I toss my keys, phone, and wallet on the end table and twist on the lamp. I’m stalling for time, dragging out every second.
She’s hell bent on forcing issues.
I’m fine avoiding all that shit altogether.
But that’s not about to happen tonight, because the energy circulating the air predicts what’s to come—we’re about to have it out.
